Apollo Brown Discusses The Importance & Rules Of Hip Hop Sampling

Detroit producer Apollo Brown talks to HipHopDX about some of his favourite hip hop samples and the rules of sampling.

When it comes to sampling, Apollo Brown is more than equipped to discuss the art. His works with Guilty Simpson and O.C. of D.I.T.C. have catapulted his name through the Internet into the ears of hip hop listeners all over. Yesterday, Brown drew up a list of his twenty favourite hip hop samples, including 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love”, Billy Cobham’s “Heather” and Gap Mangione’s “Diana In The Autumn Wind” (the latter two should be well known amongst the crate diggers out there). Brown also laid down his opinions on revealing sample sources:

There’s kind of a producer’s code where you don’t put people out there for samples that they’ve used and what they’ve used them on…that’s kind of a no-no. I’m not trying to get a bunch of my peers mad at me. It’s not really the producers themselves.

And the soul of sampling:

As a sampling producer, what I’m doing is praising your art and complimenting you by saying, “Your song is so dope, that I want to sample it and turn it into some modern-day Hip Hop.” There’s a lot of artists that kind of go with it.